Double Murder Wasn't A Random Act, Police Say

Cook County sheriff's police were searching on Thursday for at least two men they believe fatally shot a 16-year-old Elgin girl and a 23-year-old man at the man's home on the outskirts of Elgin.

Courtney Hayworth of the 300 block of South Hawthorne Street and Arnie Olsen of 1308 Summit St. in unincorporated Cook County were shot multiple times at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday in Olsen's house, according to Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's police.

Police called the shooting a "calculated" attack by at least two men whom one or both of the victims knew.

"We know this wasn't a random act," Daly said. "We believe the victim or victims knew who the attackers were."

Hayworth, a volleyball player and junior at Larkin High School in Elgin, was described by classmates and friends as attractive, outgoing and hard-working.

Olsen, who was estranged from his family, was enrolled in classes in heating and air conditioning at Elgin Community College, according to his aunt, Betty Stalker.

Elgin police were called to the scene by Hayworth's 20-year-old boyfriend, who also lived in the remote brick building. He operated an auto repair service at the Summit address, where several cars sat in the back yard.

The boyfriend, whom police would not identify, was grazed by a bullet on his upper body while fleeing the scene to get help. He was treated on the scene and questioned by police throughout Thursday, Daly said.

The incident began late Wednesday when two or more men entered an open side door of the home and immediately began shooting. Olsen's body was found in the kitchen, with several gunshots to his upper body, Daly said.

Then the men apparently forced their way into a bedroom where Hayworth and her boyfriend were. Hayworth was shot multiple times in the upper body, but her boyfriend was able to run past the men and escape out the front of the house, Daly said.

"We don't know how he was able to do it, but he fled the room, with the offenders in pursuit, and reached the street and flagged down a car that was passing," Daly said.

The driver took him to a nearby convenience store, where the boyfriend called Elgin police. After securing the scene, Elgin investigators turned the case over to sheriff's police.

The attackers drove away in a vehicle after the man fled, Daly said.

No weapons were found in the home, but small quantities of drugs were found there, Daly said.

Police would not disclose specifics as to who the intended victim was or the motive for the shooting. But Daly did say, "We have not ruled out if it was drug-related."

Besides questioning Hayworth's boyfriend, investigators were pursuing other leads as the case unfolded.

Late Thursday afternoon, a sheriff's police SWAT team raided a house in the 400 block of Du Page Street in Elgin, looking for suspects in the case, officials said. They left the house with a garbage bag full of evidence, according to investigators.

The house, which is owned by an Elgin police officer, is subdivided into several apartments. Tenant Milly Louprasong said two men and one woman lived in the apartment that was searched for 30 minutes by at least six officers.

While police worked to solve the double murder, friends and neighbors of the victims expressed shock and grief over the deaths.

At the Kay-Bee toy store on Randall Road in Elgin, where Hayworth had held a part-time job until just before Christmas, her manager tearfully remembered her as "probably the hardest worker we ever had."

"She's very, very beautiful. And she had her own personality," said manager Lisa Rodriguez, 23. "When she left here, we lost our backbone."

The Hayworth family moved to their home on the southwest side of Elgin less than two years ago, neighbors said. Courtney's stepfather, Steve McNeil, is a truck driver for Hintz Trucking, the company verified. Her mother is a telephone operator in Arlington Heights, said the family's neighbor Art Peshek.

Rev. Harold Ross, pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Elgin, attended by Hayworth's maternal grandparents, said the teenager was a "sweet young girl."

"She was a smart kid," Ross said. "She was, I guess, a girl that had some troubles, but her family worked with her as best they could."

Olsen, who was friends with Hayworth, had seen his family a couple of days before the shooting, even though he had been estranged from them, according to Stalker, his aunt.

"He was estranged from the family; they've been estranged for a couple years now," said Stalker, of Roselle. "It was just hard times."

But Stalker added that Olsen did not "officially" move out of his parents' home in South Elgin until about two months ago.

Olsen had been in violent altercations before, Stalker said.

"This was not the first time-he was stabbed in the chest a few years ago," she said.

Like Hayworth's boyfriend, Olsen liked cars, Stalker said.

"He was a tinkerer. He could take anything apart and put it back together and it would work twice as better," Stalker said.